e d i t [ a t ] s h i n y s h i n y n e w . c o m

December 20, 2013December 21, 2013

Menace Beach

Despite featuring members of some of 2013’s most exciting new acts, notably Hookworms’s MJ, Leeds based collective ‘Menace Beach’ aren’t all that exited about being labelled a supergroup or, worse still, a side-project.

Their upcoming ‘Low Talker’ EP, scheduled for release early next year, is a heady spill of oily vocals and woozy, nagging psychedelia, a blend which, although they’d probably shudder at the thought, sets them neatly in ‘Next Big Thing’ territory.

New single ‘Fortune Teller’ perfectly encapsulates the band’s woozy wonder. Crawling into life in a yawning squall of reverb soaked guitars, it dunks you head first into a foggy world of well disguised hooks and needling choruses that, although far removed from the instant gratification peddled by the likes of Peace, has its own, sluggish euphoria that somehow seems just as gripping.

It may not be 2013 smash hit material but, like fellow odduns Tame Impala and Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Menace Beach are treading a tricky, twisted path to somewhere pretty unique.

It’s not all that obvious yet but – if Fortune Teller is any indication of where they’re headed – when the glazed, plastic monotony of today’s NME cover-stars starts to wear thin, you’re going to find Menace Beach straddling the summit of something pretty majestic.